On The Fly: Living On The Air In Cincinnati, Then Leaving

Bearcats Job Always Seems To Be A Stepping Stone

December 08, 2012

Coaching the Cincinnati Bearcats is apparently the college football equivalent of playing for a Triple A baseball team. On Friday, Butch Jones left Cincinnati for the Tennessee job. Jones fulfilled his three years in Cincinnati, following Brian Kelly (2007-2009) and Mark Dantonio (2004-2006). Kelly left for Notre Dame, and Dantonio departed for Michigan State, so there's a pattern. Keep an eye on the next Cincinnati coach, because he's destined for a bigger and better job in 2016. ... Jones — who, by the way, called Tennessee his "dream job" — became a candidate in Knoxville when Charlie Strong decided to stay at Louisville, which is leaving the Big East for the ACC. But Cincinnati's opening leaves the Big East with three coaching vacancies, following South Florida's dismissal of Skip Holtz and Temple's loss of Steve Addazio to Boston College. These days, the Big East is all about filling vacancies.

•The Brady bunch is growing. Tom Brady's wife, Gisele Bundchen, gave birth to a girl at home Wednesday. Vivian joins brothers Benjamin, 3, and John, 5, Brady's son with actress Bridget Moynahan. ...Terry Francona's career has taken him to Cleveland, but he'll be back in Boston next month. Francona, who guided the Red Sox to their first title in 86 years, will receive the Judge Emil Fuchs Award for long and meritorious service to baseball at the 74th annual Boston Chapter, BBWAA dinner. Francona has been a player, coach, front office executive, TV analyst and manager during his career in baseball, but he's best known as the man at the wheel of two World Series titles in Boston. He joins past Fuchs Awards winners Ernie Banks, Bob Gibson, Warren Spahn, Marvin Miller, Bud Selig, Jim Rice, Dennis Eckersley and Carl Yastrzemski. The dinner is Jan. 24 at the Westin Copley Hotel in Boston, and tickets are $175. They can be ordered online at http://www.sportsmuseum.org or by sending a check to The Sports Museum, care of Rusty Sullivan, The Sports Museum, 100 Legends Way, Boston, MA 02114.

•What kind of raise did you get in 2012? Big league ballplayers saw a 3.8 percent jump in their salaries this year, as the average salary rose to a record $3.2 million. The Major League Baseball Players Association released the figures Friday and they show the largest rise in salary since 2007. The minimum salary jumped from $414,000 to $480,000 and the average salary rose from $3,095,183 million. The Yankees ($6.88 million) had the highest average salary for the 14th consecutive year. ... The Yankees have shown some fiscal restraint this winter, but all that money may be burning a hole in Hal Steinbrenner's pocket. The thrifty Yanks quietly ran background checks on Josh Hamilton, according to a tweet from USA Today baseball writer Bob Nightengale. It's fun to imagine Hamilton taking aim at the right-field porch at Yankee Stadium.